About controls (control data)

Every water supply system must have a control policy either given as a set of rules or established through experience. Control data is an integral part of the model, but in InfoWorks WS Pro the network geometry and control data are split into separate but very closely related items.

The network is a static system. The operational aspects of modelling the water supply system are contained in the control data. The control data describes the initial state of the water supply network at the start of a simulation and the policy for controlling the network during the simulation.

This separation simplifies the modelling process. Multiple control data sets can be associated with the same network to model variations in operation. The same control data can be associated with more than one network so physical changes in the network can be modelled.

The reasons for keeping this data separate from the network are:

• You want to try several hypotheses to establish with reasonable accuracy how the system really operates.
• You want to test several alternative control policies, both to validate the existing one and - hopefully - to find a better one.
• It is much easier to analyse unusual events.
• Facts about the current control policy are harder to get than, say, pipe lengths and diameters - and more often than not are uncertain and incomplete.
• You may get outside help to build the model, whereas knowledge of the operation of the system is generally confined to operations staff.

About the editing of control data

• Control data is a version controlled itemVersion controlled items have an extra level of management within the InfoWorks database. These items can be checked in and out to create a series of versions of the same item. You can also create branches from any version. Only the differences between versions are stored in the database. Version controlled items can be locked to prevent accidental deletion. . See Managing version controlled objects.
• Control data can be edited by associating control data with a network and then adding and editing control information for the objects in the associated network.
• Alternatively, control data can be edited independently of the network in the Control grid.

About comparing control data

Control data can be compared from the database tree in the Model Group window or the Explorer window. See Managing version controlled objects.